a historic opportunity to reform ADHD services, together.
Thanks to community pressure and advocacy on behalf of the Greens, we’ve secured a Senate inquiry into ADHD assessment and support services in Australia.
This is a huge win for the ADHD community, by the ADHD community.
Now, we need your help again to drive this campaign forward.
Sharing with the committee your experience of navigating ADHD services in the healthcare system is a critical part of helping to inform the final recommendations of the inquiry.
It’s your opportunity to directly communicate with the Parliament about the roadblocks and challenges in the way of people trying to access ADHD assessment and support services. Your lived experience is valuable, and it could change lives.
Making a submission
There are two ways you can make a submission to the inquiry: by lodging it through the My Parliament portal or sending it directly to the committee via email.
The method you use is completely up to you: either way, your submission will end up where it needs to be! It is worth noting, however, that making a submission via the My Parliament portal is generally more secure and suitable for uploading sensitive and confidential material.
Tips for writing a good submission
Your submission should:
- Clearly address some or all of the terms of reference – you do not need to address each one
- Be relevant and highlight your own perspective
- Be concise – generally no longer than four to five pages
- Begin with a short introduction about yourself or the organisation you represent
- Clearly emphasise your key points – don’t bury the more important information
- Outline not only what the issues are but how problems can be addressed, as the committee looks to submissions for ideas to make recommendations
- Only include documents that directly relate to your key points
- Only include information you would be happy to see published on the internet
If you have any questions or specific accessibility needs to participate in the inquiry, get in touch with the Committee Secretariat on (02) 6277 3515 or community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au.
MAking a submission via email
STEP 1: Write your submission
Use the above guidelines to write an amazing submission.
STEP 2: Email it to the committee
Email your submission to community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au.
MAKING A SUBMISSION VIA THE MY PARLIAMENT Portal
STEP 1: Create a ‘My Parliament’ account
Register for a My Parliament account here. If you already have one, you can skip to step 2.
STEP 2: Upload your submission
To make a submission you can click here, where you’ll be presented a list of inquiries. Scroll down until you see ‘Barriers to consistent, timely and best practice assessment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and support services for people with ADHD’, select it, and click next.
Once you hit next, you will be presented with the option to make your submission as an individual or on behalf of an organisation. Select ‘personal’ and fill out any extra details needed.
After that, you will be presented with options around the confidentiality of your submission. Committees prefer to make submissions public (which usually includes includes publishing them online) but will consider requests for confidentiality if a reason is provided.
Once you have made your preference, click next.
Step 3. Submit
Attach your written submission, click submit and you’re all done!
If you are having issues with the My Parliament system you can email your submission to community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au.
